Honorary Associates of Rationalist International

Dr. Younus Shaikh (Pakistan)

Born in a Muslim family and educated in Muslim schools, Dr. Younus Shaikh found his way to
rationalism and liberalism through books. After studying medicine in Pakistan and in
Ireland, he returned to his country and worked as a medical doctor and college lecturer.
In 1992, he founded the rationalist organization The Enlightenment and served as its
president. He fought in public meetings and newspaper articles courageously for
freethought and free speech, for separation of state and religion and for women's rights.
He also founded and led the South Asian Fraternity, which aims at promoting understanding,
goodwill and harmony, religious tolerance, interaction, and people-to-people contact
amongst the countries of South Asia.

In October 2000, he was arrested in a cooked-up blasphemy case. Islamic fanatics accused
him falsely of having made derogatory remarks about the Prophet during one of his
lectures on 7th century Arabia. They filed a criminal complaint against him under
the draconian Blasphemy Law (Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code), which carries
mandatory death penalty. Sentenced to death in August 2001, he was languishing in
solitary confinement in one of the dreaded death cells of Rawalpindi Central Jail
for more than two years, before he was acquitted and released in greatest secrecy
and under heavy security. He had to leave his country because fundamentalists
threatened his life and now lives in Switzerland as a recognized refugee.